Family Tree
by arianna spellcaster
Summary: what happens after the movie? Where do they turn? Where do they go? DId Jesse Live or Die? WIll Vince lose his arm? Go to jail? check it out here


He was a winner. The man to beat throughout the racing community, and everyone wanted a piece of him, including the cops. However, at this precise moment in time, Dominic Toretto didn't want to win a race; he didn't care about the community, or the cops. He only cared about one thing or one person rather, Jesse.  
  
He could still remember the day that Leon and Jesse had showed up on his doorstep. Dom took one look at the two younger men, and allowed them entrance into his house and into his life, without ever questioning their intentions. He'd never let anyone know this, but the real reason for that admittance, wasn't that they needed a place to stay. It was this look of betrayal hidden in each of the youth's eyes, the hurt that their own families had placed there.  
  
Amazingly it turned out, that both of the new additions worked well with the team and that Jesse however flighty his mind was from time to time, could stop and focus on a car, until it was damn near perfect. In one winter afternoon, Dominic Toretto gained two new brothers.  
  
But now Dom could only think of the present, and while he was driving away towards some unknown destination, that his friends… no his family was in grave danger. Jesse was either dead, or dying; Letty, his lover, was possibly suffering from internal injuries; Vince had deep lacerations to his arm where the truck had swung him and a gunshot wound; and Leon was probably more shaken up than he was himself.  
  
And Brian… Brian O'Connor, He was a fucking cop. He let a cop into his home.. No fuck that into his family. Dom slammed the palm of his hand into the steering wheel of the Toyota Supra, wincing at the tugging at his shoulder.  
  
"Vince was fucking right, all along. Fuck!" Dom shook his head angrily, catching himself only minutes before slamming his hand into the wheel again. "God damnit!"  
  
He had no clue what he was doing or where he was going, but he was driving south, hoping that where ever he went, that he wouldn't have to stay there long, but even that seemed a feeble hope.  
  
*^*  
  
Brian O'Connor stood in front of a mangle heap of scrap metal that once made up a beautiful black dodge charger. As he stared down at Dom's father's car, a tear slid down his cheek. Memories surged through him, memories of the shared moments between Dominic and himself in his father's garage.  
  
Suddenly, being a cop didn't seem so important, and he knew he'd done the right thing.  
  
"I owe you a ten second car."  
  
His words resounded in his head over and over like an echo off a high cliff. With each repeated syllable, he felt the realness of his words, the rightness, and as the sounds of sirens came closer Brian smiled a small smile, before taking a shallow breath and hoping that his superiors would believe the story he was about to feed them.  
  
*^*  
  
Mia applied direct pressure to Jesse's chest attempting to stop the blood from gushing quite so quickly, and paying close attention his ragged breathing. He'd somehow only sustained one gun shot wound. The sounds of sirens in the distance seemed to take forever to reach her ears, and as the ambulance stopped just a few feet in front of her, she never saw them, as she was continuing to watch her little brother closely. Only when the paramedic's took over did she let the realness of the situation to take hold.  
  
Tran had shot Jesse.  
  
"Mam, what happened?" one of the paramedics asked as he and his partner loaded Jesse onto a stretcher, and put him into the ambulance.  
  
"He raced Tran at race wars for slips. He ran. It wasn't his car, it was his dads. Tran had the place shot up." The medic nodded his head, as a police patrol car drove up in the driveway.  
  
"Mam, I'll need you to give us a report of what happened. If you could just come with us to the station-"  
  
"Fuck no." Mia muttered angrily. "Jesse's been shot I'm goin with him. You wanna talk to me; go to the god damned hospital." Mia jumped into the ambulance beside Jesse and held his hand as the doors were shut behind them.  
  
*^*  
  
Dom's cell began to ring and in a second he threw it out the open window of the Supra. In the car away from the botched heist, Mia told him that Brian used the cell phone to find him. He should have tossed it a hundred miles ago, but couldn't let go of it.  
  
He'd been driving for hours with no purpose other than to get away, to stay away from the cops, to keep his family out of any more trouble, but suddenly like a lightening bolt on a starless night sky, he knew where he was headed, and he knew exactly what to do.  
  
The sun was setting and the sky an angry orange when the red Toyota made a wide U-Turn on the four-lane highway, and began to drive back towards the city, with an old familiar smiling face, shining down at him from memories of long ago.  
  
*^*  
  
Sergeant Tanner ran his hand over his balding head as Agent Bilkins ranted on and on. "God Damnit O'Connor where the fuck did he go?"  
  
"Race Wars? Dead? I don't know." Brian looked at his feet as he spoke, knowing his entire future as a detective was going down the drain with each word he kept to himself.  
  
"What do you mean?" Tanner asked as he looked at the younger man to his right.  
  
"The last time I saw him, fuck I give up. I'll tell you the truth." Taking a deep breath, Brian began to spill his guts, or at least his little fabrication on the truth.. "Jesse bet his dad's slip at race wars, and then he ran. We knew that Tran would be out for blood, so we all went to find him. To keep him safe from the bullet, but somehow.. Somehow we still didn't get to him in time. Tran... Fuck, Tran got to him. That's what happened. Two guys on motorcycles flew by the house carrying guns, and Jesse got shot." Tears were flowing down Brian's face as he spoke.  
  
"I got in the Supra and raced after them, trying to get them to stop, and they continued to shoot, I got my gun out of the glove compartment and shot at them, but missed. Suddenly one of the cyclists flew off the roadside as Dom came up behind me. It wasn't even close, but he must have gotten spooked, I didn't see him again. I kept going after the other guy, eventually landing a shot in his lower back, causing him to slide across the pavement. I checked his pulse before looking back towards Dom. Who had tears in his eyes? Worry was evident as he began to get back in the Charger.  
  
"It was almost instinctive, we both began to drive. I guess it might have been a way to cleanse our souls, but as we drove, something awful happened. A Semi pulled out in front of Dom, and he flipped the car numerous times. I stopped and raced towards his car, helping him from the wreckage, and when he stood beside me blood seeped from his mouth. I knew he was hurt badly. I told him that you thought he was the one behind the hijacking, and he went even paler. I handed him the keys to the Supra, because I owed him a 10 second car."  
  
"You let a supposed Hijacker go?! Did you know that we had a trucker call the police station today? Three black cars tried to hijack his truck, and the only way he got free was to shoot at them?" Brian looked up at his superior with mild interest.  
  
"Did you get an I.D. from him?"  
  
Bilkins stared off into the distance for a moment before speaking. "No, just three black cars, but one day we'll have an I.D. and then Toretto is going down."  
  
"How are you so sure that it's Dom?" Brian asked angrily, as he stared at the men before him.  
  
"Who else could it be?"  
  
Brian looked at the ground, an idea forming quickly at the back recesses of his mind.  
  
*^*  
  
Mia raced behind the medics and the stretcher as Jesse was raced through the open Emergency room door. No sooner had they walked onto the white marble floor tiles, was Jesse raced back to surgery.  
  
"Mam stay here. We'll need information on the young man who was just brought in." A large burly female nurse, wearing all white led her through a door to her right, and into admissions.  
  
"The patient's name is?" Another nurse asked from behind her desk, typing in the information into a terminal.  
  
"Jesse Monroe. He's 20."  
  
"Are you any relation to the patient?" the nurse asked looking over her black plastic rimmed glasses.  
  
"No, Yes. Well, Jesse hasn't got any family, and I'm all he has." She looked through the window pane on the door to her left and thought back to Dom, hoping that he was alright.  
  
*^*  
  
"Maria." The word rolled off his tongue as the bald man in the Toyota Supra sped down the highway back towards LA. If anyone could help it would be she. For a moment the past resurfaced, bringing back the bittersweet memories of his youth  
  
His father raced at the Speedway owned by the very rich and very prominent Joseph Catella. If one wanted to be picky, he owned 90% of Los Angeles, though not all of it was purchased legally.  
  
Nickolas Toretto was an up and coming stock car racer on the pro circuit and Dom was at the track every week for the races. Truth be told, Dom wasn't there just for his father. There was a beautiful young woman who frequented the tracks nearly every week, if not for the races, then for the sheer fact that her father was there. She had hair of richest chocolate and eyes the color of fine emeralds. She was a beautiful girl, with an infectious laugh and a body that made even the older racers take heed, but none of that mattered.  
  
She and Dominic hit it off immediately, and became an instant pair, watching the races from 'their seat.' They weren't a couple, just a couple of friends, until one race, when she didn't show up and her seat sat empty just a bit too long. Dom became antsy finding her father who knew nothing of her whereabouts. And for Joseph Catella to not know what was going on was strange in deed, as he had connections as far and wide as they come. In fact it seemed the world was indebted to the man.  
  
This only made Dom's apprehensions all the worse and he began to search relentlessly for his friend. It was only when he heard a whimpered cry from behind the bleachers did he find his friend, pinned against the ground legs being forced open, and a man towering over her forcing himself on top of her.  
  
Her anguished cries forced him into action, and with one swift movement, Dom had the man thrown across the fenced in area, and running for his life. From that point on, The Catella 'family' owed him, and He and Maria became more like siblings than lovers.  
  
It took a few weeks before even they knew what change had occurred. Suddenly their time together at the track changed from being 'their' time to just hanging out. And then, it was their time with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend. Dom went from watching out for his girlfriend to watching out for Maria like he watched out for Mia.  
  
It was because of Maria that he only spent 3 years in lock up, instead of 10-15. Joseph may have banned him from the track, but he didn't ban him from his family, with that being said he used his pull to get his sentence reduced. Joseph no longer owed Dom anything, but Maria felt she owed him so much more.  
  
Before he knew it Dom was sitting before a large estate. A large metal gate with the letter "C" placed eloquently on the front stood before him, and he smiled as he pushed the metal intercom.  
  
*^*  
  
"O'Connor, I want you in my office at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. I can see that this isn't working out for you. Maybe it's my fault, maybe we put you undercover to early. But I can't let you work on the force and let the bad guys get away." Sergeant Tanner stated calmly as Brian stared back with an angry look upon his face.  
  
"No, If you want my badge and gun, go ahead and take them, I don't need to wait until 8 am for you to fire me." Brian pulled the gun from his pocket and handed it to his superior. "If you remember correctly, my badge is still in my desk at the precinct. You don't carry one when undercover."  
  
"Brian." Tanner called after the blonde headed young man as he walked away. "Please, just come by in the morning. I still need to talk to you."  
  
"Whatever." Brian replied as he walked away from the wrecked charger and the wrecked career.  
  
*^*  
  
Mia sat in a large waiting room, her mind racing with memories and thoughts hurdling at her at speeds far faster than her brother could drive. "I'm a cop Mia, A cop. Ever since the first time I saw you in the store I've been undercover." Her heart fell out of her chest as the words sunk in. "You bastard." She squeaked out as her heart constricted in her chest. She tried to run away from him, she tried to get away. But with one hand on her arm she turned. "Every thing I ever said I felt about you was real."  
  
"Bullshit." She muttered as a lone tear streaked down her cheek turning cold as it dropped off her chin.  
  
"This is Agent Brian O'Connor off duty LAPD. I have a trauma victim with deep lacerations to his right arm, and a gunshot to his leg. I need an ambulance ASAP." Dom's eyes were as wide as saucers the anger shot from his flexed muscles, and the veins in his neck protruded as the shock coursed through his body. "He's going into shock!" All three individuals crowed around Vince's Body stepped into action, until the helicopter got there. And then as the door shut and Brian stepped away from the air craft Mia was caught- caught between the her feelings for the Brian she knew and the Brian standing before her, and caught between those feelings and the feeling of love and loyalty to her brother. In the end Dom had won, he always won.  
  
As she stared straight ahead into the nothingness that were her memories, her worry, A blonde haired man with piercing blue eyes walked into the waiting room. He stood in the doorway looking at her with a wistful look washing over his face. Wanting to reach out to her but afraid to do so.  
  
"Fuck you Brian." Mia stated vehemently before allowing the sobs to wrack her body.  
  
Like a million knives stabbed into his heart Brian fell back into the uncomfortable chair of the waiting room, and silently cursed himself for ever becoming a cop, for ever allowing himself to get attached to an assignment, but not for falling in love.  
  
^*^  
  
"May I help you?" The voice said over the intercom.  
  
"Ya, tell Maria that Dom's outside and needs to come in." He said saying a silent prayer that she would still remember him. But before the words were out of his mouth, the doors opened welcoming him inside. He pulled up to the front door, and before he stepped from his vehicle he heard the sugar sweet voice of Maria.  
  
"I thought I'd heard wrong. There was no way that Dom Toretto was here, at my home." Maria spoke softly but with a commanding presence not unlike Dom's own voice.  
  
"You heard right Maria. I have missed you." Dominic stepped from the Toyota and reached out to hug the woman before him.  
  
"And I you Dom, come inside and tell me what brings you back home?" She was of course speaking of the 'family' Dom had become a part of so many years ago.  
  
"I wish it were on better terms, pinky." He followed her into the large mansion barely taking in his surroundings intent on only her. The years had done much to better the beautiful girl; she was now an even more beautiful woman. Her Hershey chocolate hair now had spun gold wove through out, and her eyes seemed even more vibrant now.  
  
"Ah I see, you're in trouble again are you brother?" She looked at his appearance taking note how he was holding his arm, how the blood on his shirt was dried and apparently not his own. "What did you do this time? Rob a Bank?" She cracked a half smile, but when Dom didn't laugh she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "What did you do Dom?"  
  
"I had a truck hijacking that went awry, and I fear there is nothing fixing this one." He cleared his throat and explained just how bad the job went and when he finished, she laughed. "You think it's funny?"  
  
"No, dear sweet Dom, it's fucking hilarious." Dom's face flushed red with anger.  
  
"So you won't help me? Gee thanks pinky, see if I save your ass again." He nearly yelled as he turned on his heel to leave.  
  
"I never said I wouldn't help you. It's an easy fix. Who can I pin it on?" Maria smiled an almost evil smile as she cooked up a plan. 


End file.
